First Day on Campus
by bored engineer
Summary: A short story about Daria's first day on campus alone, the day before classes. Post canon.
1. Chapter 1

After spending several hours of her life waiting in a line in an unconditioned college bookstore, Daria's nominally limited patience has waned. The bookstore was not as well organized as it should have been, texts being in a quasi-alphabetical format with out of place texts tossed into open spaces by staff; probably hoping to finish early. This contributed to Daria's headache alongside the heat and the crowd once it was her turn to enter the store. After losing another hour of her first day as an adult, away from her parents the once dull headache threatened to graduate to a proper migraine; much like the ones her mother endured as a corporate lawyer working long shifts in her professional quest to become a partner.

"Must be a hundred freaking degrees in this place" she muttered under her breath as she proceeded to weave through the aisles. She found her mandatory literature reading course pack sandwiched between a graduate level technical drafting course pack and a massive tombstone of an organic chemistry textbook. This made no sense in the slightest, but at that point, it was clear that nothing made sense at the bookstore this semester. Though as she plugged along collecting course material, the painful task of shopping for school neared completion. She finally had every book she needed for the first semester in her basket and was quite fortunate about it as she obtained the last copy of several of the required books on display. She could hear the frustrated groans from others as they were told they would have to come in tomorrow after the shelves are restocked. With her patented half smile she proceeded to make her way to the cashier when fate decided to throw her a curve ball.

"Do you normally not look where you are going" she deadpans while glaring at a young gentleman who walked into her. His large soda had spilled all over her top. Soaking right through and ensuring her headache would not go away anytime soon. She puts down her basket to put her green jacket back on, which she removed due to the sweltering heat in the store. The man offered his apology, but Daria would hear nothing of it.

"You know what, It's nothing, don't worry about it; just an accident" she mutters to him to end the conversation so she could proceed to the checkpoint. While getting the soda wielding interloper to leave her alone another man who walked by noticed the shopping basket on the ground had copies of material that were no longer stocked. Rather than subject himself to coming into this store the next day, he quietly raided her basket while Daria quietly focused on preserving her modesty and putting back on her green jacket over her soaked shirt. Her frustration with the book store's chaos, the spilled drink, and the hours of waiting in line flustered her to the point she did not notice the reduced weight of her basket as she went to queue up for a cashier.

The lineup moved slowly enough as Daria opened her purse to take a couple NSAIDs. The maximum recommended dosage on the bottle said 2 pills, but she helped herself to 3 and a half as she found this was more helpful in dulling these headaches. At that point, she promised herself to bring up these headaches at her next doctor's appointment as their frequency was beginning to worry her. The fast-acting tablets did their magic, and she was starting to find herself in a better mood as she went up to the till, soon enough there be pizza with her best friend, Jane.

This better mood does not last long as it became evident the books pilfered by the man who raided her shopping basket were no longer there, her evening plans to read into said books for class tomorrow, a habit picked up as a brain in high school, have been disrupted. She paid for the books she had but left them at the cashier's desk as she went back into the store to try to grab the books. While her face did not show it, Daria was thoroughly flustered. She found the books were no longer in stock and was told by a staff member that the books would be restocked tomorrow. After politely nodding to the staff member's apology, biting back a few choice words as a headache threatened to return. She collected the materials left at the cashier's desk, left the store, and text texted Jane to let her know she needed to change her shirt before meeting up for pizza. As she stepped out of the store, the air conditioning kicked in, and a blast of cold air blew into her face right before she opened the door into the sunny autumn day.

"Of course, the air conditioning is working after I'm done the shopping." Hopefully, this day will pick up once she drops her new possessions at the dorm.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ End scene

"Jesus, don't you knock" exclaimed a half-naked blonde girl as she throws a blanket over herself. The guy she was making out with just grinning happily like an idiot.

"Well, I didn't think I needed to knock to enter my own dorm room" Daria deadpanned while exiting the room.

Daria noticed three things about this interaction which she made a mental note of. Firstly, the door was not only unlocked, it also was not completely closed; secondly, guys are not allowed in the girls' wings of the freshman dorms; and thirdly she was intimate on my side of the room. Daria's things are on that side of the room, her sheets are on that bed. That was her blanket wrapped around her roommate's nubile body.

Daria digested this while nursing her headache as they got dressed and he left the room. How to broach this topic, she opted to not be polite like she was at the bookstore; Daria would have kept her tongue in check if it was not her bed or if she didn't sound shrill like a certain cheerleader she used to know. Added on top of the frustration of the bookstore fiasco still fresh on her mind.

"At least when Britney and Kevin never did such things on my bed, only up against my locker I guess I should thank Kevin for that small mercy." As the man left dressed, with his shirt on backward and inside out, Daria decided to ask "So what brings you to Raft, I'm curious how someone like you got in?" Much to her surprise, he did not notice the insult.

"Oh, I'm Nick, I'm here on a full hockey scholarship, I was the center who won state and national for Sea breeze High. The recruiter said if I play on the team here for 6 years and maintain a 2.5 GPA I should get a general degree. Hopefully, an NHL recruiter notices me! Raft set aside a bit of money for me to get a tutor for that so it should work, no more byes on the exams anymore they say. I met, umm, I think your roommate's name is Chelsea… or is it Sara, no, Sara was this morning... at lunch, the college recruiter, James his name I think, bought me a steak and lobster dinner… Umm, why is your shirt stained?"

Daria winced at his reply, a few seconds later however she assumes a neutral position. "Good to hear, though, I'll let you go now, I'm sure you have better things to do to talk to me."

Nick blurts out "I wouldn't say that I do, I mean, have better things to do, you're an attractive chick, you just need to learn a bit on how to dress up to show off your beauty."

Daria winces again, this guy just might be more clueless than Kevin. She decides not to chew Nick out now as she has to deal with the roommate she caught in her bed. "Well, I guess I'm glad to hear I got the Nick stamp of approval, but you really shouldn't be here, guys are not allowed in this wing of the dorm, and I'm sure you don't want to risk that hockey scholarship" Kevin agrees and walks out to the common area.

She walks into her room to see her roommate already dressed and proceeds to say sharply "I'm Daria, your roommate, and I feel we do need to discuss a few things, lay down some ground rules if we are going to survive freshman dorms together. For starters guys are not allowed in these dorms, college policy; secondly, don't touch my stuff and finally stay off my bed." She grabs herself a fresh shirt and goes to change out of the dirty shirt in the bathroom. She gives her roommate a few minutes to decide how to respond.

"Hey, Daria, I'm Michelle, I'm sorry for the incident. Nick figured that bed must have been mine and well I'm always a soft touch when it comes to guys who play sports." Michelle, almost squeaking, glances sheepishly at the door. "Oh, by the way," Michelle adds, "If you would like to borrow any fashionable clothes feel free to let me know, I noticed we are the same height."

Daria comes out in a fresh shirt, identical to the one stained with cola. "I'll be fine, well I'm going to go now." Before Daria leaves to meet Jane, she quips, "I expect you to pay for my laundry when I wash my sheets this evening. Don't touch my sheets, I would like to do it myself" Michelle, slightly blushing, agrees.


	2. Chapter 2

Daria had not made more than a few steps outside her door before a gruff voice called out her attention.

"Excuse me, Ms. Morgendeffer, we need to have a word about your conduct today" a small woman with a chip on her shoulder and a wry expression "My name is Mary Simons, your RA; this is an unfortunate part of my duties as RA. I imagine you have a good idea what type of conversation we are going to have about what topic."

Daria quickly turns around, caught unawares by the harshness of her addresser and a bit perturbed the accusatory insinuation. Maintaining a neutral expression in spite of her frustration, "Oh, and what type of conversation are we going to have."

A small half smile forms on the RA's face "Well, I'm quite impressed with your poker face, but if you wish to play coy, I will be blunt about it. Believe me, I'm not comfortable with this either, and I'll assume you are not familiar with the rules in the freshman dorms, so I'm willing to leave this as an informal warning. A particular individual, Nick Carter, a distant relative of mine; you were 'entertaining' him in your dorm. Strictly speaking, you are not allowed to entertain in such a way in the freshman female dorms. You are allowed to visit guys you like in their dorms I will add. This rule is in place to ensure this area remains a safe space for all the girls here, your floormates, during their first formative year."

Daria freezes, stunned as she comes to understand what it is she is being accused of. Still, shy on manners of intimacy, and not wanting to start her college days as a snitch, looks at her feet and quietly states "I didn't do anything of the sort." To this, the RA's smile disappears, and her own neutral expression, rivaling Daria's when she is annoyed, appears.

"Look, Daria, I have your file here, I'm willing to leave it blank for now, but I'm not too impressed with such a blatant lie. You were not very, discrete. For Christsakes you didn't even close the door, adding to this fact, you are quite loud and vocal about it. My cousin came out, with his shirt on wrong, so I stopped him. As he is terrible with names, I asked him if he was on the odd-numbered side of the room or the even numbered side; Nick might be terrible with names but my cousin is quite gifted with numbers, the only reason, other than hockey, he was able to come to school in the first place. He was on your side of the room. I checked the register, that is your bed. I had multiple complaints from girls about the racket you made, your neighbor across the hall had her family helping her move in."

Daria sees out of the corner of her vision several young women watching this unfold. A couple appeared quite hostile, including the one whose parents and little brothers were helping her move in; as well as a couple quite bemused by the spectacle. Daria's skin starts to break out from anxiety, with a visible blush due to the intimate nature of the allegations. Quickly Daria adds "that's wasn't me". Mary's neutral expression is quickly replaced by a frown.

"Look, you're caught; I get it, it's embarrassing, believe me, loads of people do embarrassing things in college. In retrospect I probably should have called you into my office and gave you this dressing down privately, that would have been more professional. That said, that will be the last blatant lie I let you get away with on the manner. He even remembered your name, I asked him what he was doing here, and I quote 'oh, you know, having fun, See you, Mary, oh, that Daria is a cool chick'. I have to admit though, I'm quite impressed with you on that issue, Nick isn't known for remembering anyone's name. " Daria blushes quite furiously at this and is flustered to the point she can no longer speak.

Mary, her frustration with her personal life egging on a cortisol rush, goes on to drive the point home. "Then within minutes of my conversation with my hockey playing cousin, here you are leaving your room in fresh clothes, not quite the clothes you left your dorm this morning in. Now, as you denied this twice, I can give you two options. You stop denying, perhaps apologize to these girls to whom you disrespected by bringing him in, we let this manner drop, and it never comes up. The second option, is we schedule a formal hearing to the disciplinary board; a mark is made on your permanent record as to what happened, and you have to explain to every person who interviews you for a job what exactly happened here. As well, the likelihood of your family learning about this unfortunate incident becomes quite likely with this option. I am not enjoying this Daria, please, just take the informal verbal warning, and let me begin the school year happy go lucky."

Daria is stunned, in normal circumstances perhaps she would have held herself together, probably returned a return volley of sharp wit; but as her day has been going so badly, starting with a fight with Helen in the morning, to the madness in the bookstore, to this, her reserves of mental fortitude were finally depleted. Both blushing and with an anxiety rash, in spite of the dutiful taking of her anti-anxiety medication doses, rushes into the women's restroom. Mary can hear the sound of retching and realizes she crossed a line. The fact is Mary was dealing with bad news from home, boyfriend troubles, a job prospect falling through, all put her in a foul mood and Daria was merely the victim of Mary's sometimes cruel wit. Having angry parents asking if they were paying tens of thousands of dollars to send their daughter to a bordello set Mary off as the honor of her school was allegedly called into question by this freshman. One of the girls who witnessed the situation is absolutely livid with Mary's handling of such a minor issue. Chelsea Bowers, a fifth-generation Raft student, knows for a fact Mary was required to be discrete and stares daggers at Mary as she goes in to talk to this girl she can clearly see is having an anxiety attack. She quickly shoes the others away.  
~~end scene~~


End file.
